LLNL - The True Story -

Right LLNS TCP-1 holds $600 Million more than it needs--that's over $150,000 per person for all 3500 TCP-1 participants. LLNS just released the annual funding Notice TCP-1 to beneficiaries. Funding Levels (PVassets/PVliabilities) 2010 154.64% 2011 127.58% 2012 151.59% How the heck can LLNL insist employees contribute 7% to TCP-1, (while LLNS/DOE does not contribute) when it is so overfunded already? The 600M differnce between assets, $1.8B, and liabilities, $1.2B, is over $150,000 per person, growing at a rate of $60,000 per person per year during 2011-2012) This needs to be clearly and transparently explained to employees, with sufficient justification numbers provided so employee number crunchers can verify the arithmetic. At 170% overfunding about 20 years ago, the IRS warned UC that UCRS appeared to be a tax shelter, which is the reason UC suspended employee contributions then. This seems needlessly conservative, even irresponsible to be taking 7% from employee pockets t...

If you take the VSP, you will still be able to collect unemployment. When you file for unemployement, they will check with Lab HR and ask if you were terminate or quit, and HR will say you were terminated. That's it, no other checks. Yes its a loop hole, but it makes some sense. You could quit right now and not get the VSP severence pay. Take the VSP you are really agreeing to being fired - in exchange for the payout. To the government you are still being fired, and entitled to unemployment benefits. If it was a VSIP it might be different. But a VSP is the same as a forced RIF (from unemployment standpoint), difference is employees self select instead of management. Can we some confirmation of this from any of the "barracks lawyers" in the audience? A real lawyer would work too I suppose. April 28, 2013 at 8:44 AM

Discrimination at LLNS: 1. They tell you not to come into work 2. Once you have a certain number of days off work, they send you to medical 3. Medical says you need accommodations, asks you for them, then turns those accommodations into unreasonable restrictions. 4. Your boss says they can't meet the unreasonable restrictions 5. They no longer accept your new accommodations 6. They say they need to get restrictions from your treating doctor 7. They reject accommodations from your doctor 8. They say you need a note from your to return to work. And they need a medical release to "talk" to your doctor. 9. After they talk to your doctor, your doctor won't provide a note to return you to work 10. You go on disability, and you are still employed, so you can't "complain" to EEOC. 11. After a year on disability, they medically separate you from your employer 12. After 3 years on disability, they stop your benefits.

Wow, why is Bruce Goodwin leaving WCI? http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2013/04/26/lawrence-livermore-shuffles-some-top.html

A question about the UCRS and/or TCP-1 pension cpi adjustment calculation. How is it done? I vaguely remember that it averages the BLS all-urban CPI data for LA and SF from Feb to Feb and that it is applied to pensions adjusted the following July. But I can't get the 2012 numbers to work. After recent Rogoff's Excel fiasco, I figured I should verify simple matters for myself. My 2012 adjustment was 1.8% in July 2012. The BLS all-urban seasonally-adjusted all-item deflators for the period are listed as; for LA Feb 2011 229.729 Feb 2012 234.537 Feb 2013 239.753 LA(2012/2011) = 234.5/229.7 = 1.0209 For Sf Feb 2011 229.981 Feb 2012 236.88 Feb 2013 242.677 SF(2012/2011)= 236.88/229.98 = 1.03 Therefore the average of the CPI increase in LA and SF from 2011 t0 2012 is (.03+.0209/2 = 2.54% not 1.8%. Do you know what the difference is from? By the way using current data the new CPI adjustment in July should be 2.3% Thanks in advance. Parney if you are reading, help out here.

LLNL will announce by May first a VSP targeting dead wood and EBAS. If your on the list look for a email strongly suggesting you apply for the VSP. All applicants will be released by June. Anonymous Anonymous said... April 25, 2013 at 8:21 PM So you're telling all of us if we were a good employee who does a good job we can't get the he-ll out of here and have to stay to be tortured by unreasonable managers from the top down, but if were a *** no-load who hasn't done their part for years, we get a good deal, free and laugh all the way to the bank. Good move.

Another Chu scandal He was such a disappointment as Secretary. In addition to all the bad investments he made in businesses, he managed to leave NNSA in a worse position than where he inherited it. What a downward slide for the Labs! http://www.businessinsider.com/how-electric-automaker-fisker-imploded-2013-3?op=1

Moniz clears first hurdle in Senate Senate energy committee gives Ernest Moniz thumbs-up By: Andrew Restuccia, POLITICO April 19, 2013 05:19 AM EDT Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics professor Ernest Moniz has emerged as the anti-Chuck Hagel, easily passing his first Senate test and even winning support from conservative Republicans. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 21-1 Thursday morning to approve Moniz’s nomination for energy secretary. Only one Republican, Sen. Tim Scott, voted against him. And his vote reflected broader frustration with President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2014 budget request, not Moniz’s record. Obama’s decision to choose Moniz reflects a broader effort to find a political middle ground on energy policy after Republicans spent years battering outgoing Energy Secretary Steven Chu. While Moniz has an academic background similar to Chu’s, his résumé differs in several important ways. Moniz is a seasoned veteran of Washington, havin...

Chu on PF-4 safety In what may have been a parting action to LANL, Chu replies to the DNFSB. "I have concluded that PF-4 can continue to operate safely while longer-term structural modifications are completed." This just might work if someone would cough up the money sometime soon to pay for those 'longer-term structural modifications'. http://www.dnfsb.gov/sites/default/files/Board%20Activities/Letters/2013/ltr_2013327_21816.pdf

LLNL gets good report After hearing about all the negative IG reports on LANL for years, this is a welcome break. It also should put to rest any questions about how LLNL allocated direct and indirect costs. http://www.doe.gov/sites/prod/files/2013/04/f0/OAS-L-13-07.pdf

McMillan receives honor Even if it is from a place that no one has ever heard of, it is still an honor. TAKOMA PARK, Md. (Apr. 17) – Charles McMillan, Ph.D., director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and president of Los Alamos National Security, LLC (LANS), the company that operates the lab for the National Nuclear Security Administration, was named alumnus of the year by his alma mater, Washington Adventist University during alumni homecoming weekend, April 12-14.

The presidents budget cuts NIF significantly. That budget will never pass but portions of it will. It doesn't look promising. http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2013/04/obamas-2014-science-budget.html#NIF2

Just imagine where we would be today if the 3.5 billion in construction, and the brain power that was used to construct NIF had been used to advance the nuclear energy industry. Just imagine the implications in terms of national economic security, reduced dependence on foreign energy sources, and the trending to a significant reduction in green house gases. There were two ways NIF could sink LLNL, one was to succeed, the other was to fail. Yep, NIF is a success, but so was the TITANIC.

How America’s latest attempt at fusion power fizzled By Andrew Grant Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory If all goes according to Mike Dunne’s plan, the United States will build its first nuclear fusion power plant by the end of the next decade. Sixteen times a second, as the National Ignition Facility's program director for laser fusion energy envisions it, a two-millimeter-wide capsule of cryogenic hydrogen will drop into a steel chamber and get zapped by a 384-beam laser. Matter will transform into energy, driving a turbine that injects up to a gigawatt of clean power into the electrical grid. But all is not going according to plan. To be viable, a fusion power plant would need to generate more energy than it consumed. Yet except in nuclear weapons, scientists have never produced a fusion reaction that does that. For a half-century they have strived for controlled fusion and been disappointed, only to adjust their theories, retry and be disappointed again. http://www.sc...

What's the word on the June furlough-like event?

The recently introduced I-Squared Act of 2013 (comprehensive immigration reform) includes a provision to "staple" a green card to every person who receives a masters degree or higher in a STEM field. This may even include an online degree obtained by a foreigner over the internet. Presumably the State Department would subsequently FedEx their green card to China or Saudi Arabia, no questions asked. Seeing as how the Googles, Pfizers and the Microsofts wrote this bill to depress wages, it got me to thinking: will stapling impact the labs by fast tracking citizenship? Following the quest of big business (Bechtel, Lockheed Martin, etc) to the logical conclusion, why not just staple a US passport to every foreigner earning a MS or higher? Would the labs not rejoice in their new found talent pool? Do the labs really care about US national security, or just hiring the best people at the lowest wage to meet NNSA/DOE/DOD objectives? Anybody with elementary economics knowledge under...

Former NNSA Chief: Fiscal Austerity Will Force Restraint On LEPS Weapons Complex Monitor April 16, 2013 Future approaches to extending the lives of the nation’s nuclear warheads are likely to be restrained in their scope in the wake of the challenges faced by the National Nuclear Security Administration to contain costs on the B61 refurbishment, the former head of the agency said yesterday. Estimates to refurbish the B61 bomb have reached as high as $10 billion, even as some safety and security features have been dialed back, and former NNSA chief Linton Brooks said yesterday during a speech at the American Security Project that the future would likely bring more of the same. With the B61, “there were those who said this is our last chance to see these weapons for a very long time … and things to make it safer and more reliable, we should put those in,” Brooks said. “That proved in some cases to be unaffordable. I think we’ve learned, the nuclear community, has learned the lesson.” Br...

Suggestions on Saving Money at DOE Labs Might be a good thread before summer budget difficulties arise.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/article_1ea77dbe-f6e2-5168-81c0-ce24ac1e0557.html

N.M. nuke spending would grow By John Fleck and Michael Coleman Albuquerque Journal Thu, Apr 11, 2013 The Obama administration Wednesday proposed a 23 percent increase in the budget for U.S. nuclear weapons research, manufacturing and maintenance over the next five years. The increase, which in part would fund work at Los Alamos and Sandia labs in New Mexico, is an effort to refurbish aging nuclear weapons and the labs and plants needed to maintain them, even as the nation reduces the size of its nuclear stockpile, federal officials said during a series of budget briefings. The budget request asks Congress to provide $7.89 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nuclear weapons activities in fiscal year 2014, up from $7.56 billion this year. By 2018, the proposed weapons activities budget would rise to $9.29 billion in 2018, according to the budget request. At Los Alamos, overall spending by the NNSA and other programs within the Department of Energy would rise f...

Hello, SPSE-UPTE would like to invite you to our second Noontime Talk on "Surviving at LLNL in an Era of Shrinking Take Home Pay." Details can be found here: http://www.upte.org/spse/MatchExpSemIIfinal.pdf Thanks, Riki Gay President, SPSE-UPTE Local 11 spse@spse.org 925-449-4846

Are you glad that Lab management is looking out for your future and requiring the use of bicycle helmets?

Energy nominee supports nuclear complex By Michael Coleman Albuquerque Journal Washington Bureau Wed, Apr 10, 2013 WASHINGTON – Ernest Moniz, President Obama’s nominee for energy secretary, offered strong support for the nation’s nuclear weapons complex, as well as enhanced domestic natural gas production, during his confirmation hearing Tuesday. Obama has tapped Moniz, director of MIT’s Energy Initiative, to lead the Department of Energy, which oversees New Mexico’s two nuclear laboratories. In his testimony to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday, Moniz pointed out that he has significant experience in the nuclear weapons realm. In the late 1990s, Moniz led a review of DOE’s stockpile stewardship program, and he has helped negotiate for heightened security of Russian nuclear weapons materials. Moniz told the committee Tuesday that nuclear stockpile stewardship will remain a critical part of the Department of Energy’s mission. “DOE expertise, to a large ...

Well, the posting for the new CIO is out. I wonder if the "third time is the charm". Let's hope they get it right this time! I'm not sure if we have a good pool of internal candidates. Most have applied before and have been rejected.

Money is tight and NIF is EBAing people, assigning them new jobs and working those that are left twice as hard. I think it’s time for NNSA to step in and do what is right. I think it’s time to run a poll with multiple choices. The question would be something like. What incentive if offered by NNSA would most likely guarantee your departure before Oct 1st, 2013? If possible allow them to identify themselves by age. 1) One weeks pay for every year of service 2) Two weeks pay for every year of servive 3) Seperation check equal to two years wages 4) One years wages tax free into your 401k or 403b

New Era for Energy Department Expected Under a Secretary Moniz April 8, 2013 National Journal With stimulus funding for clean energy at an end, climate-change policy dead in Congress, and harsh budget cuts looming over all agencies thanks to the sequestration, the days of President Obama’s vision of the Energy Department as a green juggernaut have probably come to an end... The MIT professor and former Energy undersecretary in the Clinton administration is also likely to renew the agency’s traditional focus on nuclear energy, nuclear waste, and nonproliferation of nuclear weapons... Like the man he would succeed, Nobel laureate Steven Chu, Moniz is a renowned physicist with serious research chops: He is director of the Energy Initiative at MIT, where he has been on the faculty since 1973. Unlike Chu, however, Moniz has a long record of supporting a broad portfolio of energy sources, including natural gas. He also has a strong background in nuclear issues, making him a better fit con...

This is like whack-a-mole. If it's not one thing, it's another. We are getting a reprieve from the painful reminders of NIF EoS threads, and I'm sure those people involved are breathing a sigh of relief. This time, it's about NIF ignition! Title: IGNITION FAILED Source: Science News Date: April 4, 2013 (web) http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/349381/description/Ignition_Failed

ORNL gets new S&T head Mason's announcement is striking compared to when LANL recently filled a comparable position. Oak Ridge gets a nationally recognized leader that has lots of personal research accomplishments as well as good experience in DC. Los Alamos promotes another of their insiders and tells everyone it is the best that they can find. I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Ramamoorthy Ramesh of the University of California, Berkeley as my Deputy for Science and Technology effective June 1, 2013. Ramesh will also hold an appointment as a Governor’s Chair Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Ramesh has an exceptional record of accomplishment in fields that are well aligned with ORNL’s current scientific thrusts. In particular, he is internationally recognized for his work on complex multifunctional oxide thin films, nanostructures, and heterostructures. He has published more...

What is the story behind the new guards at LLNL?

Energy Department IG Pushes for Cost-Saving Moves at National Labs Global Security Newswire March 28, 2013 The Energy Department's top auditor this month said the Obama administration should look to shrink, close or take other steps to reduce costs at the 16 DOE national laboratories, the Center for Public Integrity reported on Wednesday. No particular facility became a target for potential shutdown in the advice issued by DOE Inspector General Gregory Friedman. The national laboratories include the country's three nuclear-weapon research sites: the Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories in New Mexico and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. The 16 facilities together cost $10 billion each year and employ 110,000 people, Friedman told the House Science Oversight Subcommittee as it mulled federal funding reductions mandated by the 2011 Budget Control Act. “The operative question going forward from our perspective may well be, what can the d...

So it looks like DOE is starting to think a little bit about which Lab to close, LNLL or LANL, in case the financial problems in the complex keep get worse. The thought seems to be, "why do we need two competing weapons labs in this day and age of very tight budgets and the end of the cold war?" Who will win this battle if it comes down to it, LNLL vs LANL? April 1, 2013 at 10:53 AM .. Energy Department IG Pushes for Cost-Saving Moves at National Labs Global Security Newswire March 28, 2013 The Energy Department's top auditor this month said the Obama administration should look to shrink, close or take other steps to reduce costs at the 16 DOE national laboratories, the Center for Public Integrity reported on Wednesday. No particular facility became a target for potential shutdown in the advice issued by DOE Inspector General Gregory Friedman. The national laboratories include the country's three nuclear-weapon research sites: the Los Alamos and San...

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